Cheney's accidental shooting of long-time friend Harry Whittington has come and gone. Likewise, the opportunity for Cheney to handle the situation in a forthcoming and timely manner has also come and gone. In its wake is left a White House internally conflicted.

As Bush and his aides struggle to gain control of their renegade vice president, Bush did his best to quash rumors of internal strife blossoming from Cheney's dubious post-shooting leadership by asserting that he "thought the vice president handled the issue just fine."

However, according to White House sources, Bush was being less than sincere.

"White House insiders tell US News Bulletin that Bush wasn't pleased with Cheney's four-day delay in going public, but Bush still values the Vice President's counsel and loyalty and he doesn't want to embarrass his Number Two publicly."

And according to The Situation Room:

"Senior Administration sources tell CNN not talking early on irritated the President and his top aides, who make no secret they believe confusion and stubbornness made a bad situation worse."

Particularly enraging for Bush was Cheney's overwhelming distraction from Bush's agenda and the augmented perception that Bush lacks control of his underlings.

Why Didn't Cheney Take a Blood Alcohol Test?

Why did Ranch Owner Katharine Armstrong say, "No one was drinking" alcohol only to have Cheney admit that he was indeed drinking beer?

Why did Cheney and Armstrong wait 14 hours to notify the police about an accidental shooting?

Why do drunks tend to delay reporting alcohol-related accidents to the police?

In Michigan, hunters are forced to take a blood-alcohol test in the event of a hunting accident. Not so in Texas -- not that it would matter 14 hours after the fact. Thus, no blood-alcohol test was administered to Vice President Dick Cheney.

No worries though. Local police have everything under control. According to Media watchdog Media Matters:

...media outlets have reported that law enforcement officials say that alcohol was not involved in the incident -- without noting that the officials are presumably relying on the word of Cheney and the others involved and without noting that interviewing the parties immediately after the incident would have presumably produced direct evidence on this question.

So, alcohol was not involved, eh? Did they ask Cheney about that -- because the Vice President seems to disagree: